Terrible bridge collapse in Italy

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LE

This kind of ..of ******* , the builders, council, and all involved makes my stomach turn.

They are all taking a cut or trying to save a few thousand and then make a saving to save their jobs or to make a few quid on the side.

******* the lot.

Wonder if the same kind of thing in the UK would happen? Like a council block of flats burning and dozens to die because of cheap cladding and cheap doors, as well as the Tower block rules telling those to stay .

LE

This kind of ..of ******* , the builders, council, and all involved makes my stomach turn.

They are all taking a cut or trying to save a few thousand and then make a saving to save their jobs or to make a few quid on the side.

******* the lot.

Wonder if the same kind of thing in the UK would happen? Like a council block of flats burning and dozens to die because of cheap cladding and cheap doors, as well as the Tower block rules telling those to stay .

Mafia and backhanders mate, part of the Italian way of life.......to paraphrase the Great Don Corleone, "everyone wants to dip their beak".

And, in the end all the money has gone out in backhanders so the only thing the builder can afford is sub-standard materials which even then are probably substituted by the supplier for stuff which has EC Approved crayoned onto it.

LE

Mafia and backhanders mate, part of the Italian way of life.......to paraphrase the Great Don Corleone, "everyone wants to dip their beak".

And, in the end all the money has gone out in backhanders so the only thing the builder can afford is sub-standard materials which even then are probably substituted by the supplier for stuff which has EC Approved crayoned onto it.

LE

To be fair to the Italians, when things go right, they are first class builders and artisans with a real flair, but...

Mafia and earthquakes.

Mafia rips everyone off, everyone had to pay, so stuff gets shoddily built...but, earthquakes.
Italy has a bad habit of falling down, so, civic leaders and politicians have been able to assuage their consciences with letting crappy stuff getting built by shrugging their shoulders, and telling themselves it only had to last as long as the next good earthquake.

And that’s what you often see in earthquakes. The old brick buildings still standing, and newer concrete buildings dropping like sandcastles. Everything in Italy is supposed to be built earthquake proof with extra rebar and high strength concrete, and that’s expensive. But provides great margins for selling off steels and cement without stuff falling down too quickly.

It used to be a rule of thumb 10% of the contract price for fiddles and bribes in UK civils contracts, I think it’s 90% for fiddles and bribes in Italy

LE

I have worked in Civil Engineering for most of my life since Army.
That photograph by itself shows that Councils and Governments ( i.e. politicians and their lackeys ) should NOT be able to over rule highly qualified Engineers on safety issues.

LE

To be fair to the Italians, when things go right, they are first class builders and artisans with a real flair, but...

Mafia and earthquakes.

Mafia rips everyone off, everyone had to pay, so stuff gets shoddily built...but, earthquakes.
Italy has a bad habit of falling down, so, civic leaders and politicians have been able to assuage their consciences with letting crappy stuff getting built by shrugging their shoulders, and telling themselves it only had to last as long as the next good earthquake.

And that’s what you often see in earthquakes. The old brick buildings still standing, and newer concrete buildings dropping like sandcastles. Everything in Italy is supposed to be built earthquake proof with extra rebar and high strength concrete, and that’s expensive. But provides great margins for selling off steels and cement without stuff falling down too quickly.

It used to be a rule of thumb 10% of the contract price for fiddles and bribes in UK civils contracts, I think it’s 90% for fiddles and bribes in Italy[/QUOTE
last time we stayed there the Hotel made great pains to sow us it was earthquake proof
we rode there on a motorcycle
I felt safer on that !

LE

I have worked in Civil Engineering for most of my life since Army.
That photograph by itself shows that Councils and Governments ( i.e. politicians and their lackeys ) should NOT be able to over rule highly qualified Engineers on safety issues.

War Hero

Italy now calculating the cost of high public investment to ensure this does not happen again, 150 Billion over 10 years seems a nice number. The funds to be raised by selling more bonds, putting Italy further in debt and putting more strain on the EU and its relationship with Italy.

LE

I had to laugh on breakfast tv this morning. Immediately after a harrowing report from Italy was Laura with the weather, brought to you by checkatrader.com

Fred Astaire ate my hamper.

If they should once obtain a connivance, they will press for a toleration, from thence to an equality, from an equality to a superiority, from a superiority to an extirpation of all contrary religions. John Pym 1584-1643.